Beautiful India

The Sri Sathya Sai Seva Organisation, Pune, will organise a mass wedding on May 16, the birth anniversary of Sathya Sai Baba, at Phulgaon village in Pune.

“We have booked 50 couples, which include some Muslim and Buddhist couples, who have agreed to get married on the appointed day,’’ said, Venkatesh Jalgi, district co-ordinator Pune, Sri Sathya Sai Seva Organisation.

The couples have been chosen from different rural areas of Pune and are not able to afford marriages. “The couples have been drawn from diverse backgrounds and they came forward for the marriage, which is being held free of cost. We are providing utensils and clothes to the couples,’’ Jalgi said.

The marriages are being held in an austere setting without any pomp and show and the estimated expenditure incurred by the organisation on each marriage is between Rs 10,000 and 15,000, he said.

“Some of the couples are from slum areas and some belong to families of farmers. We took the initiative as in villages such as Phulgaon, couples have been running into debt and cannot afford weddings,’’ Jalgi said.

The organisation looks into the area of socio-economic development of the people from the rural backgrounds of Pune, and it is for the first time that it is organising the marriages on such a large scale.

“We are targeting the solemnisation of around 85 marriages on Sathya Sai Baba’s 85th birth anniversary. This is being held on the auspicious occasion of Akshaya Tritiya,’’ added Jalgi.

The Sathya Seva Organisation plans to keep the event sombre. He said the organisation booked the marriage offers through its Grameen Seva Kendra at Phulgaon village and has collected donations for the event.

“We have a well-established network of philanthropists, who have come forward to fund the event. We are doing this as there are hardly any organizations that work towards helping people conduct marriages, thus laying the base for the basic social unit of the society,’’ said Jalgi.

He added that most of the couples who have come forward have got their respective matches arranged by their parents.